On more than one disaster, we’ve asked in this space “where do you begin to pick up the pieces?”

Hurricane Sandy, which hit New York and New Jersey two years ago today, was one. The damage was too massive, the task too Herculean for mere mortals to tackle. Better just to give up.

Many people didn’t give up. And most everyone figured out where to start.

Gallery

View full galleryIn this Oct. 21, 2014, photo, Michael and Cathy O'Hanlon pose for a photo in front of their newly-built home, left, in the Breezy Point section of the Queens borough of New York. The O'Hanlon's original home at the site burned to the ground in October 2012 during Superstorm Sandy. Photo: Mark Lennihan, APThis combination of Oct. 29, 2012 and Oct. 20, 2013 photos shows sea water flooding the entrance to the Brooklyn Battery Tunnel in New York as Superstorm Sandy struck the city and traffic entering nearly a year later. (AP Photo/John Minchillo)In this combination of Monday, Feb. 25, 2013 and Sunday, Oct. 13, 2013 photos, the sun rises in Seaside Heights, N.J., behind the Jet Star Roller Coaster which had been sitting in the ocean after part of the Casino Pier was destroyed during Superstorm Sandy, and the empty site nearly a year after the storm. (AP Photo/Mel Evans)This combination of Oct. 30, 2012 and Oct. 15, 2013 photos shows damage caused by a fire in the Breezy Point section of the Queens borough of New York in the aftermath of Superstorm Sandy, and the same site nearly a year later. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II, Kathy Willens)This combination of Oct. 30, 2012 and Oct. 22, 2013 photos shows Brian Hajeski, of Brick, N.J., on a bridge in Mantaloking, N.J., on the morning after Superstorm Sandy rolled through and at the same site nearly a year later. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)This combination of Oct. 29, 2012 and Oct. 17, 2013 photos shows a darkened lower Manhattan during Superstorm Sandy as seen from the Brooklyn Heights promenade in the Brooklyn borough of New York and the same view nearly a year later. (AP Photo/Bebeto Matthews)This combination of Thursday, April 25, 2013 and Sunday, Oct. 13, 2013 photos shows homes destroyed by Superstorm Sandy at Ortley Beach in Toms River, N.J. and an empty lot in the area six months later. (AP Photo/Mel Evans)This combination of photos from Dec. 4, 2012 and Oct. 21, 2013 show the ruins of more than 100 homes in the Breezy Point section of the Queens borough of New York following Superstorm Sandy and new construction to replace them. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan)In this combination Monday, Nov. 5, 2012 and Monday, Oct. 21, 2013 photos, Rockaway resident Christine Walker walks along the beach under what is left of the boardwalk in the wake of Superstorm Sandy in the borough of Queens, New York and the same site nearly a year later. (AP Photo/Craig Ruttle)This combination of Tuesday, Oct. 30, 2012 and Monday, Oct. 21, 2013 photos shows Robert Connolly and his wife Laura as they survey the remains of the home owned by her parents that burned to the ground during Superstorm Sandy in the Breezy Point section of New York and new homes, center and right, under construction in the seaside community. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan)This combination of Thursday, April 25, 2013 and Sunday, Oct. 13, 2013 photos shows U.S. flags at a site in Brick, N.J., around the burned remains of more than 60 small bungalows at Camp Osborn which were destroyed during Superstorm Sandy and the same area nearly six months later. (AP Photo/Mel Evans)This combination of Thursday, Nov. 1, 2012 and Thursday, Oct. 17, 2013 photos shows commuters in a line which stretched twice around the arena waiting to board buses into Manhattan in front of the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York and the site nearly a year later. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)This combination of Thursday, Nov. 22, 2012 and Sunday, Oct. 13, 2013 photos shows debris left by Superstorm Sandy where the boardwalk had been in front of Lucky Leo's arcade in Seaside Heights, N.J. and people walking at the rebuilt area nearly a year later. (AP Photo/Mel Evans)This combination of Nov. 14, 2012 and Oct. 17, 2013 photos shows construction equipment working on debris collected during the cleanup from Superstorm Sandy in the parking lot of Jacob Riis Park in the Rockaway section of the Queens borough of New York and the empty lot almost a year later. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan)This combination of Oct. 30, 2012 and Oct. 22, 2013 photos shows downed power lines and a battered road smashed by Superstorm Sandy in Seaside Heights, N.J. and traffic flowing at the same site nearly a year later. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)

About the blogger

Bob Collins has been with Minnesota Public Radio since 1992, emigrating to Minnesota from Massachusetts. He was senior editor of news in the ’90s, ran MPR’s political unit, created the MPR News regional website, invented the popular Select A Candidate, started several blogs, and every day laments that his Minnesota Fantasy Legislature project never caught on.

NewsCut is a blog featuring observations about the news. It provides a forum for an online discussion and debate about events that might not typically make the front page. NewsCut posts are not news stories.